A review of tunnel fire research from Edinburgh

The University of Edinburgh and its alumni have made significant contributions to knowledge in the field of tunnel fire safety engineering. This paper summarises the situation of tunnel fire safety in the early 1970s, when the department of fire engineering was founded and briefly discusses all the contributions to knowledge in the field, made by Edinburgh and its alumni in the past four decades. Research carried out at Edinburgh has changed the way the tunnel safety industry estimates heat release rates in tunnels, has influenced way design fires are specified and has challenged industry opinion about the use of water sprays in tunnels. This paper is part of a celebration of four decades of fire research at Edinburgh.